Council of Europe classifies Julian Assange as a political prisoner

The Council of Europe classifies Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as political prisoners.

In a resolution, the Council’s Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg referred to the serious US allegations against Assange with a possible life sentence “for what essentially consisted of the collection and publication of news”.

Assembly calls for investigation

The Assembly calls on the US to investigate alleged war crimes and human rights violations uncovered by Assange and Wikileaks. The handling of Assange had a “dangerous chilling effect” that undermined the protection of journalists and whistleblowers around the world.

Unacceptable long detention

The assembly accused the British authorities of failing to effectively protect Assange’s right to freedom of expression and liberty. Despite the political nature of the allegations against Assange, they subjected him to an unacceptably long period of imprisonment.

The Council of Europe, which includes 46 states and is independent of the EU, has repeatedly dealt with Assange’s human rights situation in the past.

As of 2010, Wikileaks had secret material from the whistleblower Chelsea Manning of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan published.

The US accused Assange of endangering the lives of US informants. Assange’s supporters, however, see him as a courageous journalist who brought war crimes to light. Assange holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for seven years before being detained for extradition in 2019. Assange was unexpectedly released at the end of June and returned to Australia.